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Saturday, June 7, 2014

Garden Update June 7th, 2014

Happy Summer everyone! We have had some crazy weather here in Georgia, but things are heating up and the garden is doing great! Lots of exciting things have happened since we talked last. My husband got accepted into a masters program at UGA and started classes a couple of days ago. He will be taking 2 classes a semester (summer, fall, spring) for the next 2 years. I am very proud of him.

Also, we left for a week to go on a vacation! The vacation was absolutely wonderful. We got to hang out with family and went on a cruise. We spent lots of time at the beach, soaking up the sun, swimming in the ocean, and of course eating lots of delicious food. I couldn't have asked for a better time!

I was nervous that my newly planted garden would suffer in my absence, but my fears were unfounded. We got back on Monday and I was surprised and delighted to see that everything was thriving and growing.

There are lots of updates in this post, so first I will show you pictures of the garden before we left, as well as my first harvest, pictures from garden today, a fallen limb that almost took out the garden, and building a gate.

Like I said, I was nervous about the garden shriveling up while were gone, so I put a thick layer of leaves so the soil would retain more water.

Now that you have seen the before pictures, here is what things look like now.

I have peppers and okra here, they are doing okay. Not great, but hopefully they will hit their stride soon and really take off. If not I can always plant more beans.

My 3 zucchini plants have taken off! They are getting so big and I can already see 2 or 3 little zucchinis starting to grow.

They are so cute. This is my first time growing zucchini and I am enchanted.

My cucumbers are also growing really well, especially once they started growing up the fence.

My first one should be ready to pick in 2 or 3 more days.

The rest of this garden bed has tomatoes and tomatillos and basil which are also coming along nicely. A big difference from just 2 weeks ago. I plan to tie them to the fence with twine to keep them supported.

Here is a picture of both beds. Again, I am pleasantly surprised at the growth I am seeing and will be thrilled to be eating cucumbers and zucchini in just a couple of days!

My anise hyssop plant next to the garden is growing beautifully and has started to bloom.

The bees love it!

My herbs are also doing very well.

I am most excited about the dill. This is my first year growing dill and I have determined I am going to make pickles with my dill and cucumbers.

I had my first harvest of parsley a couple of days ago.

I made a cole slaw with cabbage, carrots, parsley, olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Truthfully, I didn't like it that much. I make another coleslaw with lime juice and cilantro that I liked much better. I wasn't going to throw it away, so for dinner I took the leftover coleslaw and cooked it in a little bit of leftover beef broth and tomatoes. Then I really liked it and want to make more as soon as I get more parsley.

In other news, apparently there was a big storm while we were gone and lots of limbs fell in our yard. Thankfully none of the limbs fell on our house or vehicles. One of the limbs fell on our fence that I built to trellis the tomatoes. Thankfully, our neighbor saw it and pulled it off while we were gone, and since it fell on the fence, none of the plants were harmed.

It even punctured a hole in the board when it fell. It was definitely a close call and I am so thankful the fence was there.

On Thursday, we finally cut our grass and collected all the limbs and branches that fell in the storm. I look at the pile and give thanks that nothing was damaged!

As far as our summer, Chris and I are both enjoying some down-time and have had the opportunity to work on some projects around the house. Since we got back on Monday we have cleaned out the garage and hung cabinets, cleaned up our yard and Chris built a gate so we can get from our back deck to the yard. I told Chris that I finally feel like a responsible homeowner :).

I think it turned out great.

So, what about you guys? Are you growing anything? Do you feel like an irresponsible homeowner when the grass isn't cut?